A Board Game As A Crime Prompt

The deadline for the PGS Special Crime/Mystery/Suspense Issue has been extended, so here's another crime prompt.

The board game Cluedo (Clue in North America) was first released in 1949. Growing up in the 1980's, it was pretty easy to find in Manila stores. My family used to own at least a couple of Cluedo's because the cards and the board would wear out from so much gameplay. Simply put, the concept behind it is the whodunit mystery turned into a boardgame.

The owner of the Black Manor Mansion, Mr. Boddy, is dead. Murdered! There are six suspects, six possible murder weapons, and nine different rooms in which the murder could have taken place. No police (why spoil the fun and bring in the authorities?), as the mansion is isolated, and a sudden storm has severed all telephone lines (no internet or mobile phones yet in this era). The goal is for each player, taking their turns, to hunt down clues and to deduce, via the process of elimination, who committed the murder, with what weapon, and where. The one who guesses right from 324 possible solution-combinations, wins.

How classically cliched is this old game?

Well, you have your usual dark mansion room choices, like the Conservatory, the Study, the Billiard Room, the Kitchen, the Dining Room, the Ballroom, the Hall, the Lounge, and my favourite, the Library. I always imagined Mr. Boddy slumped in an armchair in The Library. The Hall was the most boring place of all to die in.

Then you have your weapons: The Wrench! The Candlestick Holder! The Lead Pipe! The Rope! The Knife! And yes, there's a gun too, the Revolver! But it's not just any kind of pistol. Rather, the game-piece looked like something that came out of the era when the most advanced rifle of the age was a musket.

But this game wouldn't work without its stock characters:

Colonel Mustard (old, European, buffoonish military man, probably a drunkard, wears a monocle, stuck reliving the glorious combat days of his youth in India)

Professor Plum (the middle-aged, absent-minded academician; smokes a pipe, always misplaces his eyeglasses, has lousy interpersonal skills, invariably dressed in tweed)

Mr. Green (corrupt businessman, complete with paunch, smelly cigar, and angry glare, with just a hint of the underworld surrounding him; always seems just one step away from a quarrel)

Mrs. White (the frazzled, dotty housekeeper, who often surprises everyone by being present where she isn't expected to be, complete with her feather duster and her wide-eyed, nervous look)

Mrs. Peacock (the old, snooty lady who holds herself aloft from all this tomfoolery, the one who uses snobbery as a pretense to dignity, and whose fingers are weighed down by jewelry (but are they all real?); think matrona for our local equivalent)

Miss Scarlet (ahh, the femme fatale, svelte, smooth, and who likes her nicotine via a glossy, black, long-stem cigarette holder. Oozes sex, secrecy, and cunning. The Black Widow. Smokin'!)

There is even a chance for a little role-playing, since players can choose which characters they want to represent. My female cousins tripped all over themselves trying to be the ones to play Miss Scarlet, and hoped against hope that not only could they play her, but that she would also be the one who committed the crime (yes, the game can end up where you are the murderer, but if you guess right, you're still the game-winner; you'll just celebrate your victory behind bars, is all). The cousin who got to play her would ham it up like anything. She'd pretend to hold a cigarette between two fingers, puff non-existent smoke out, and through half-lidded eyes, do her best to look sultry and devious at the same time. I just thought she looked sleepy.

I wasn't afraid to tell her this--"Hey! You look like you need a nap!"--but despite my ribbing she never broke concentration or character. Instead, she would whip her head in my direction and fix me with The Searing Stare Of Female Evil (head still up, nose still in the air, shoulders perpendicular to me, chest out, and yes, don't forget the imaginary cigarette still dangling from her fingertips; then she would blow invisible smoke into my face. "Cretin!" she would then call me).

Needless to say, none of my female cousins wanted to be Mrs. Peacock or Mrs. White, often choosing to even be Colonel Mustard over those other two.

As a young guy, I always chose Professor Plum, but I think if I were to play now I'd very very very much like to be Mr. Green. Hmm...I just might get a chance at this. I think I'll check out the stores and see if Cluedo is still being sold. The younger members of my family are, I think, old enough to have fun playing this game, if they wouldn't mind horsing around with an old geezer like me. Geez, I've become Colonel Mustard in my old age.

The climax is reached through an incremental build up. As one gathers clues (cards, which one keeps the other players from seeing) one can "suggest" or "suspect" others. "I suspect that Mrs. Peacock did it in the Kitchen with the Knife!". And then more clues are passed around to confirm or discredit the suspicion, until one is sure of one's logical conclusions. Then one can go for the win:

"I accuse Mrs. White of doing it in The Conservatory with The Rope!"

Woe to you if you're wrong, because...well...you lose. And the others get a chance to recover from your illogical deductions.

My playmates and I came up with our own versions of the game. We invented new places like The Garden, The Tree House, The Attic, and The Basement. We had new weapons like The Wire, The Letter Opener, and The Heavy Ash Tray. And we changed the characters we didn't like. Mr. Green became someone else, a mailman, I think. Professor Plum and The Library stayed where they were because of me, as did Miss Scarlet because of my cousins, but Mrs. White and Mrs. Peacock became so many other things, over time.

In fact, There have been many variations of the tales woven around this game's characters. Mrs. White has been portrayed in some versions as some man-hating serial killer. Miss Scarlet is supposed to have been courted by all the male characters at one time or another and has spurned them all. She started out as a blonde, became Eurasian at one point, and is now a brunette. But she was always sexy, secretive, and deliciously evil. Professor Plum is either thoughtful or forgetful, depending on the version you're playing. Mr. Green was, in some versions, a Reverend, and Colonel Mustard, instead of being old, was a young and handsome military man in the European publications. In fact, the most consistent character is Mrs. Peacock, who is always concerned with society, manners, and wealth, though in one instance she was revealed to be Miss Scarlet's mother. Oh, the scandal! What would Good Society say?

There have been books on all the possible adventures that could arise from the game, and I believe, a movie too.

And now, in its latest incarnation, Cluedo is going modern. Mr. Green is now African-American who knows "all the ins". Miss Scarlet is now a famous actress always in the tabloids. Mustard is a football player, and Plum is a video-game designer. The lead pipe, revolver, and wrench are gone, replaced by the dumbell, trophy, and poison. Boddy is still, well, just that: a dead body, doomed to resurrection then immediate death whenever the game is started anew.

It's not everyday you can use a boardgame for a crime prompt! But this is one not-so-serious way to have fun with the crime/mystery/suspense genre, and make up tales around it in the process.